1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to snow poles and in particular to a single pole suitable for use by snowboarders.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
A significant number of collapsible and adjustable ski poles are found in the prior art. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,289,818 an adjustable ski pole is disclosed in which the sections telescope within one another. The '818 patent also discloses the concept of a detent mechanism for locking the sections of the ski pole in position. Other adjustable ski poles which are extendable and retractable are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,405, U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,987 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,911. The '911 patent discloses a ski pole with a telescoping construction wherein the ski pole when retracted is collapsed to half of its length and the handle portion of the ski pole comprises a mechanism that can be opened and spread apart to provide a seat for the skier without having to take off his skis. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,903 an adjustable ski pole with a split retainer ring is disclosed. The overall length of the pole is adjusted to the skier's height. The pole has upper and lower sections which are telescopically joined and equipped with a manually controllable coupling means. The coupling means embodies an outer sleeve having an internal stop shoulder at its lower end and wholly encompassing a longitudinally split inner expansible and contractible sleeve.
The ski poles which are disclosed in the prior art are normally used in pairs and are particularly suited for use by Alpine and cross-country skiers who utilize a pair of skis, one on each foot. Recently, snowboards have enjoyed increasing popularity and ski slopes are populated now with almost as many snowboarders as they are with conventional Alpine skiers.
A snowboard is a single board with a pair of bindings located on the board at spaced-apart positions. Typically, a binding for either the left foot or the right foot is located toward the front end of the snowboard and a binding for either the right foot or left foot is located toward the rear of the snowboard. The foot configuration is dependent on the snowboarder's stance preference. A spacing of 10 to 16 inches is usually found between the bindings.
A downhill run on a snowboard resembles the ride and action of a surf board on water. A snowboarder normally does not utilize any ski poles and relies for maneuvering on the ability to shift his weight from side to side and backwards and forwards to control his speed and direction of travel. At the end of a run the snowboarder typically disengages his back or rear foot from the rear binding and advances to a chairlift or other destination by sliding the board forward with his front foot and walking or pushing with his back foot. Also, on certain occasions during his normal runs or after disembarking from a chairlift, a snowboarder will encounter a terrain that does not have enough inclination to allow the force of gravity to pull the snowboarder along and has to be traversed by pushing with his back foot. In such situations, it is desirable that the snowboarder have a pole which would allow him to push himself along the flat surface rather than having to disengage the back binding or even both bindings, and endure a walk or push/slide along the flat area until the next slope is encountered. This will also alleviate the need to unbuckle and re-buckle the binding or bindings once again before and after traversing the flat area.